Testimony: Hamas rules in Al-Shifa Hospital, attacks and beats women

Woman about Hamas' treatment of her and other women when they came to visit someone in Al-Shifa Hospital:

• "They beat us with clubs, hit us, and removed our head coverings… They beat us vigorously with clubs and shot under our legs"

Since the October 7 attacks, Hamas has utilized Gaza hospitals as shelters, command centers, weapons storage facilities, and temporary holding areas for Israeli hostages.

But Hamas' weaponization of medical infrastructure extends beyond terror operations against Israel. In addition to serving as Hamas' military strongholds, health facilities also serve as sites of internal oppression against Palestinian civilians. A striking example surfaced last month, when Fatah spokesperson Dr. Jamal Nazzal shared the testimony of a woman who detailed the severe abuse` and subjugation of Gazan women by Hamas security forces inside Al-Shifa Hospital:

Posted text: "Testimonies of women from the Ahl tribe residing in Gaza about the new specialty of what is called the Hamas security police. They removed the women's clothes until they were left in underwear. They beat them with clubs until they broke. They shot between (i.e., under) their legs. They asked them to pay for the cost of the bullets they shot between their legs."

Woman in Gaza: "I am one of the women from the Ahl family who were attacked at Al-Shifa Hospital. We went yesterday to visit one of the injured at Al-Shifa Hospital... They [Hamas] arrested three of the women along with their small children… We went to tell the [security] police forces present at Al-Shifa Hospital… They beat us with clubs, hit us, and removed our head coverings. They removed the abaya (i.e., robe) of one of the women to take the phone with which she filmed the attack... They beat us vigorously with clubs and shot under our legs. Also, they took one of the women, beat her, took her phone, allowed her to delete the videos, and told her that her phone was confiscated until the next day. She went the next day to retrieve it, and they took her to the prosecution, imprisoned her, took her to the Deir Al-Balah police, and then asked her to pay the cost of the bullets shot under our legs."

[Fatah spokesman Dr. Jamal Nazzal, Facebook page, Sept. 8, 2026]

Similarly, Palestinian Media Watch exposed earlier this year a testimony of a Gazan political activist, who explained that Hamas misuses hospitals and relief centers to interrogate and torture Gazan civilians:

Amin Abed, political activist from Gaza: "Hamas has placed armed men in every relief center who threaten people and instill fear in them… The young people were summoned [for interrogation] in hospitals. … and they threaten to kill them. They call people and summon them at Al-Shifa Hospital, Nasser Hospital, Al-Aqsa Hospital, and Al-Ma'amdani Hospital… why have you turned the hospitals into centers of interrogation and torture where you kill our people and torture our people."

[Fatah-run Awdah TV Facebook page, June 26, 2026]

The following are some of Palestinian Media Watch's reports on Hamas' use of Gaza hospitals as terror bases and interrogation centers during the Oct. 7 war:

PA: Hamas is using hospitals for military purposes (December 2024)

Why does Israel attack hospitals? (May 2025)

Stop blaming Israel – Nasser Hospital is a terror base (August 2025)

Hamas is again using schools and hospitals and has redeployed across most of Gaza (October 2025)